


Captain's Curse (see also: Captain's Sickness, Karasuno's Captain Tradition)

by Lineal



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Captain Yamaguchi Tadashi, Future Fic, Gen, Humor, Short One Shot, give these captains a break pls, karasuno being karasuno, kind of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-27
Updated: 2020-09-27
Packaged: 2021-03-07 21:08:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 919
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26684182
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lineal/pseuds/Lineal
Summary: Once was an accident. Twice was a coincidence. Three times?Yamaguchi groans softly as the pain blossoms in his head.Three times would make a pattern.OR: Karasuno finds out that they have an unconventional (yet very effective) way to choose their next Captain. What else are they to do, other than make it a tradition?
Relationships: Yamaguchi Tadashi & Karasuno Volleyball Club
Comments: 25
Kudos: 153





	Captain's Curse (see also: Captain's Sickness, Karasuno's Captain Tradition)

**Author's Note:**

> (ive fallen into the haikyuu hole and i actually dont want to get out)
> 
> Humor! Karasuno! No angst here!!! :D

In hindsight, they really should’ve expected something like this to happen. It really should’ve been their biggest worry during the tournament, especially with how much Tanaka and Nishinoya were joking about it.

But they hadn’t. All signs and warnings had been ignored.

And now Yamaguchi stares in horror, feeling a disturbing amount of deja vu as Ennoshita lies on the floor, unmoving. Hinata is kneeling by his side, clutching his shoulder as the color in his face rapidly drains.

There’s a stunned silence all around them in the stadium. The audience is holding their breath in anticipation, the commentators are wide eyed and gaping at the unfortunate turn of events, and the other team is stuck between a silent cheer and “oh shit, are they okay?”

From an outsider’s perspective, this would be an absolute disaster. After all, this is only their first set of their first game at Nationals, and they’re currently behind by two points.

It’s not looking good for them.

But they’re also Karasuno, and they’ve dealt with this before.

Kinoshita fucking laughs, and the poor, ignorant first years turn to him, utterly terrified and in shock.

Tsukki lets out a snort in disbelief and possibly amusement while Ennoshita is helped off the court by Yachi and Coach Ukai. 

All eyes are suddenly on Yamaguchi, and he belatedly realizes that he’s the only second year who’s currently on the bench.

Oh.

Oh no.

“Yamaguchi,” Narita calls and Yamaguchi swallows heavily. “Congratulations on your promotion, Captain.”

Oh, they’re doing this, huh.

There’s a hand on his shoulder - Kageyama, showing his silent support - and Tsukki begins clapping slowly and maybe a bit proudly.

The other team watches him closely as he walks on and he can almost hear their thoughts: “their captain and pillar of support is gone now. We might actually win against _the_ Karasuno!”

Oh, how wrong they are. Some people obviously haven’t been paying attention to their trusty pinch server.

‘Just a pinch server?’ Ha.

But that’s fine. Totally fine, Yamaguchi decides, cracking his knuckles as the ball is rolled over to him.

Yes. Definitely fine.

The whistle blows and the ball rolls off of his fingers almost perfectly. He jumps and his palm comes into contact with it. There’s a satisfying smack.

The ball lands on the other side of the court, mere centimeters away from being out.

It’s a service ace.

Somewhere in the crowd, Suga and Asahi are cackling while giving Daichi a few hard slaps to the back.

A cheer echoes through the stadium and Yamaguchi feels himself grin.

Because if Daichi was their stable pillar of support, and Ennoshita was a calm wave that washed over them comfortingly and kept them in line, Yamaguchi is the team’s greatest enabler of chaos and destruction.

He scores another service ace. And then another.

The other team manages to bump the ball, but it goes over the net instead of to their setter. 

And they're certainly not expecting Karasuno's new Captain to leap into the air from behind the attack line and slam it back on the first touch, right into the unfortunate libero's face.

The rest of the game is history, and Karasuno walks away with a new captain and somehow with even more feral energy than before.

* * *

Tanaka and Nishinoya’s teasing only gets worse and worse in the days leading up to their retirement. 

They get extra diving drills and orders to clean up by themselves because Yamaguchi is captain now and he gets complete and tyrannical authority over them.

Still, it doesn’t help his paranoia (which they’ve begun calling Captain’s Sickness (which is something that apparently comes with the Captain’s Curse and Karasuno’s Captain Tradition)) from growing. He ends up getting Tsukki to be his bodyguard from any and all wing spikers and middle blockers in their immediate vicinity. 

That is, before he realizes that Tsukki is also a middle blocker and finds himself cowering behind Kageyama and Yachi.

* * *

A year passes without any incident.

Yamaguchi finds himself unintentionally relaxing.

That’s the biggest mistake he makes during their final set against Shiratorizawa.

It’s almost comical how it happens in the same corner of the court in the same way as all those times before.

What’s not hilarious is how much it fucking hurts. On that day, Yamaguchi not only passes on his title and power, but he also gains a new kind of respect for all of his former captains. How were they actually able to get up and play after going through something like this? The world will never know.

Anyway. The first year libero is profusely apologizing to him, panicking in a way that only poor, ignorant first years would.

So now he can’t even trust the liberos. Dutifully noted.

Tsukki has the audacity to snicker and Hinata smacks him.

As Yachi helps Yamaguchi off of the court with an exasperated eye roll, he can faintly hear one of the second years opening their mouth and announcing solemnly, “Congratulations on your new position, Captain.”

Their nervous, shaky intake of breath doesn’t go unnoticed, but they all pretend to ignore it.

“I’m sorry,” Kageyama says, not sounding apologetic in the slightest. “But it’s tradition.”

(and so Karasuno’s infamous Captain’s Curse gets passed down to yet another unlucky generation once again)

_(legend has it that to this day, it is still very much a thing)_

_(not only that, but the fatality rate has also increased to include Vice Captains too)_

_(no one has managed to survive this deadly curse yet)_

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!!!
> 
> [Join my Discord and be my friend](https://discord.gg/E8rnymG)


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